Robotics

Kerry Wan/ZDNETIf you want to get your health and wellness goals in check for 2025, now’s a great chance to scoop up one of Apple’s handy watches for its best price yet. You can get the newest Apple Watch Series 10 for $100 off or only $299 at most major retailers before the spring season. These 25% off savings can be found on both the 42mm More

ZDNETWould you be willing to give Gemini a peek at your search history?Recent reports indicate that Google is working on Gemini Personalization — an AI model that would let you share your search history with Gemini to get more personalized results. Also: Gemini AI is coming to Google Calendar – here’s what it can do and how to try itYou’d be giving up a fair amount of privacy to use this model, but at least from early indications, it would make Gemini the most personal AI chatbot yet. Gemini would know quite a bit about you that you never had to tell it. How Gemini Personalization worksGoogle hasn’t officially acknowledged this feature, but Android Authority accessed a version deep in the code of the latest Google app (version 16.8.31), and its article showed several screenshots of the feature in action. To start, Gemini says that only the model Gemini Personalization will connect to your search history and that chats in this model aren’t used to improve Gemini, aren’t stored outside your chat history, and are deleted from your activity within 60 days.You’ll need to give Gemini permission to see your search history and turn on Web & App Activity in your Google settings. Once you’ve done that, you can ask Gemini about your past searches or ask a question that Gemini can answer with what it knows about you from those searches. Also: Goodbye Gemini, hello Pixel Sense? What we know about Google’s AI assistant for Pixel 10You can potentially ask Gemini base-level questions like “What was that restaurant I was searching for last week?” or “Show me the tourist sites I Googled in NYC,” but you could also ask questions like, “I’m going to NYC. Can you give me restaurant recommendations using my search history?” and get a reply like, “Your search history tells me you like finding locally owned Italian restaurants. There’s a highly rated one…” A potential question could also go something like, “Give me some recommendations for shoes based on all the ones I’ve searched for the past two months.” More

ZDNETGoogle Messages has been having issues lately, and the company is asking for your help while it works on a fix.Also: Google Fi users finally get RCS on iPhone – here’s how to check if it’s activatedIn a blog post yesterday, Google acknowledged that many users have been experiencing issues with receiving media in Messages. Sometimes the app slows down drastically, the company says; sometimes it shuts down entirely. Widespread issueGoogle didn’t explain specifically what the issues were, but Reddit reports show that the issues are widespread. Some users are reporting that Messages is slow to load when viewing attachments and won’t show up for several minutes; some are saying that images are blurry when trying to view them; and some are having issues with messages that won’t load at all. Also: A new Android feature is scanning your photos for ‘sensitive content’ – how to stop itProblems are occurring when receiving media from either iPhone or Android, so it’s not an OS problem, and they are happening across a wide variety of devices and carriers. No workaroundsThere doesn’t seem to be anything you can do to make things better. Users report that restarting their phones doesn’t help, and the issues persist whether connected over Wi-Fi or mobile data. Also: Why Gmail is replacing SMS codes with QR codes – and what it means for youGoogle has been actively working on the issue, it says, and it recently rolled out several updates aimed at improving performance. Some users indicate that things may be getting better and pictures are loading without problem, but some are still seeing problems. More

Jack Wallen/ZDNETWhen I first started using MacOS, my default browser was Safari. This continued for a long time, mostly because all other browsers couldn’t match Safari’s battery optimizations. But there were things about Safari that weren’t quite what I preferred in a browser, especially in the realm of security. Like most everything Apple creates, you’re stuck with the company way. In other words, Safari didn’t put the security of the browser in the hands of the user. Also: 5 alternative browsers that might just replace Safari on your MacThat’s why, when I first heard about the Orion browser, I had to give it a try. What is the Orion browser? The Orion browser is a web browser built on the WebKit rendering engine. For those who don’t know, a rendering engine is what makes it possible for an app to present web pages to the user. Also: I speed-tested 11 browsers – and the fastest might surprise youNow, before we go too far, know that Chrome on iOS does use the WebKit rendering engine (Chrome on all other devices — including MacOS — uses Blink). Other than that, it’s all Safari. What Orion does (besides using WebKit) is present itself very much like Safari. The first time I opened Orion, I thought I’d mistakenly opened Safari. What makes Orion special? There are several features that help make Orion stand out. First and foremost is security. One thing that really had me nodding my head was the fact that Orion sends zero telemetry. Private information is protected and is never leaked… anywhere. Next, it comes with vertical, tree-style tabs, which I find far more efficient to use than traditional horizontal tabs. Not only are your tabs easier to see, they’re easier to organize. As a bonus, there are also tab groups. The only thing missing here is a Workspaces-like feature. Also: My 5 favorite web browsers – and what each is ideal forAnother really cool aspect of Orion is that it supports both Chrome and Firefox extensions. There are some extensions that are available for one but not the other. This ensures you don’t have to miss out on either. Then there’s the built-in ad and tracker blocking, which is enabled by default, as well as: SpeedEasy on system resourcesAcross-device syncReader modeAutoplay video blockingKeychain for passwordsPicture in PictureLow power modeAllow copy and paste (on sites that don’t usually allow)Also: 5 Firefox-based, privacy-first web browsers that improve on the originalThe last feature I’ll mention is called Focus Mode. With Focus Mode, if you hit the key combination (⇧⌘F), all distractions are removed from the window. I love this feature because it shoos away every element from the web browser, so you can focus on the content at hand. I’ve used Focus Mode quite a bit during my testing because I find it helps me focus on what I’m looking at. The temptation to look at something else is removed (until I hit the same keyboard shortcut) and I can enjoy a clean window with nothing but content. More

Rodica Cojocaru/Getty Images Nearly every part of modern life depends on our connection to the internet. When my provider experiences an outage, everything grinds to a halt — working remotely via VPN, streaming music on Spotify, and even using smart home devices. It’s a stark reminder of how much we rely on the invisible network […] More

ZDNETIt’s time once again to update your iPhones, iPads, Macs, and even your Vision Pro headsets, as Apple has just released a patch to address a serious bug that the company claims is currently being exploited by hackers to gain access to devices.iOS 18.3.2 (along with iPadOS 18.3.2, MacOS Sequoia 15.3.2, VisionOS 2.3.2, and Safari 18.3.1 for Macs running Ventura and Sonoma) includes a supplementary patch for a bug that Apple previously addressed in iOS 17.2. This update fixes a sandbox vulnerability in WebKit. Also: No Metallica tickets? How to see the band’s Apple Vision Pro concert – for freeThe sandbox is a security mechanism that isolates web pages from the rest of the system, preventing websites from accessing or interfering with other system components. Since this sandbox bug allowed “maliciously crafted web content to break out of the Web Content sandbox,” and WebKit is the engine that powers the Safari browser along with all other third-party browsers running on iOS and iPadOS, it’s a bug that affects every iPhone and iPad user, along with a big chunk of Mac users.Apple further states it is “aware of a report indicating that this issue may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals.” It is important to note that this exploitation was only possible for those running versions of iOS prior to iOS 17.2.You can install the update on the iPhone or iPad in four steps:Go to the Settings app on your device.Tap on General, then select Software Update.The screen will display the currently installed version of iOS and any available updates.If an update is available, tap Install Now. Alternatively, you can wait for it to be downloaded and applied automatically to your device. There are also reports that this update, like previous ones, re-enables Apple Intelligence. After applying the update, the introductory Apple Intelligence splash screen is displayed, and the only option available to users is to tap on Continue. If, like me, you’ve found that this update significantly impacts your battery life and decided to turn it off, you’ll need to do that again.You can find the setting to do this by tapping on Settings and then Apple Intelligence & Siri. More

Linux foundation and OpenInfra/ZDNETTo strengthen the open-source community, the Linux Foundation and the Open Infrastructure Foundation (OpenInfra) have announced plans for OpenInfra to join the Linux Foundation as a member foundation. This decision follows unanimous approval from both organizations’ boards and aims to unite their vibrant global ecosystems to provide trusted open-source solutions.Also: Gartner identifies top trends in data and analytics for 2025 – and AI takes the leadThe Linux Foundation was formed when the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) merged with the Free Standards Group in 2007. Back then, its focus was to standardize desktop and enterprise Linux. Today, it oversees more than 900 open-source projects. In OpenInfra’s case, it started as the OpenStack Foundation in 2012. Its mission was to oversee the OpenStack infrastructure-as-a-service open-source cloud. In 2020, the foundation changed its name to OpenInfra and expanded beyond OpenStack to include: Airship, lifecycle management for clouds; Kata Containers, lightweight virtual machines; and StarlingX, a cloud-based edge-computing platform. Also: What happened at the Homebrew Computer Club 50 years ago: Apple was born, and a revolution beganThe two foundations already collaborate closely through the Open Infrastructure Blueprint, which integrates key projects, including Linux, OpenStack, and Kubernetes. This partnership supports critical workloads for hundreds of organizations worldwide, creating opportunities for these technologies to grow together and outpace proprietary tools in evolving infrastructure environments. By joining forces, the organizations will accelerate data center modernization through collaboration with projects such as Kubernetes and PyTorch. In other words, this merger is a natural move. More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways Motorola’s Moto G Power is currently on sale for $300. This device boasts multi-day battery life, a 6.8-inch Full HD+ screen, and decent performance for a mid-range phone. However, its similarities to the base Moto G may not be enough to convince people to pay an extra $100. more buying choices […] More